Restraining sheet



April 19, 1955 G. A. DAAKE RESTRAINING SHEET Filed March 1, 1954 Il 1 Ml IN V EN TOR. George 6.224 aka BY e 1 rae/Vey:

United States Patent O RESTRAINING SHEET George A. Daake, Golden, Colo. Application March 1, 1954, Serial No. 413,215 2 Claims. (Cl. 12S-134) This invention relates to devices for restraining institutionalized patients, and more particularly, restraining sheets for use in keeping violent patients in bed.

Most mental institutions and many hospitals throughout the United States are inadequately staffed which makes it exceedingly difficult to give each patient the personal attention which they demand and oftentimes need. This problem becomes especially acute in cases involving mental patients who have periods of violence during which they are likely to inflict injury on themselves or other patients. It is nearly impossible under present conditions to give these people the constant watchful supervision necessary to prevent accidents and wilful injury. Hence, means must be provided for restraining such patients which eliminate the need for constant supervision and yet will not cause discomfort or pain. Although relatively few mental patients are aiilicted with homicidal or suicidal tendencies, many are constantly in danger of inflicting accidental injury upon themselves or their fellow patients; and in others, the outward manifestations of their afiction may amount to nothing more than tearing their bed clothing and night clothing off. However, in all these cases it is necessary to protect the patient against such actions' over which he has no control.

Among the object of this invention are to provide; a restraining sheet with which a mental patient may be safely, securely, and comfortably strapped into a hospital bed and left without fear that he will cause injury to himself or his fellow patients; a device of the type described which, although effective, may be momentarily released to free the patient in case of fire or other disaster; and a restraining device which is simply constructed and easy to use.

Other objects will be in part apparent and in part pointed out specifically hereinafter in connection with the description of the drawing which follows, and in which:

Figure l is a view looking downward from above a hospital bed in which the restraining device of the present invention is being used to restrain a patient;

Figure 2 is a top plan view taken in the direction of arrows 2-2 of Figure 3 showing the wrist pad held in closed position by the wrist strap;

Figure 3 is a side elevation taken in the direction of arrows 3-3 of Figure 2 showing the sheet, wrist pad, and wrist strap;

Figure 4 is a side elevation showing the restraining sheet and bed frame strap;

Figure 5 is a side elevation of the sheet, pad, and wrist strap in open position; and

Figure 6 is an enlarged transverse section taken along lines 6 6 of Figure l showing a portion of a bed frame, spring, and mattress with the restraining sheet of the present invention secured thereto, and in which the relative position of one arm and one leg of the patient have been indicated by dotted lines.

Referring now in particular to Figure l of the drawing, reference numeral 10 indicates a conventional hospital bed of the type having tubular side frame members 11. A patient 12 has been illustrated as held within the bed by means of the restraining sheet of the present invention indicated in general by numeral 13. The side edges 14 of the restraining sheet are provided with one or more bed frame straps 15 by which the sheet is strapped to the bed. The central portion of the restraining sheet is provided with two wrist straps 16 which hold ICC two corresponding wrist pads 17 in place about the wrists of the patient.

Referring now in particular to Figure 5, each wrist pad is formed of an elongate piece of padded or quilted material 18 which is sewn or otherwise permanently secured to a similar piece of backing material 19 formed of a strong fabric such as webbing or canvas. The wrist pad is sewn at apoint between its ends to canvas sheet 20 with the backing material between the padded material and the sheet. The wrist pads are placed opposite one another at spaced points on each side of the center line running between the side edges of the sheet. Each wrist pad has an outer ap 21 extending in the direction of the side edges of the restraining sheet when in open position, and an inner flap 22 extending in the direction of the center of the sheet. The under side of inner flap 22 as seen in Figure 5 is provided with one or more strap loops 23 extending transversely at spaced points. These strap loops are substantially rectangular in shape and formed of a metal rod. Each strap loop is secured to the wrist pad along one side by a strap 24 passing over said side and sewn to the backing material. The opposite side of each strap loop is preferably provided with a freely rotatable bushing 25 which permits wrist strap 16 to be tightened more easily. Outer flap 21 contains a plurality of transverse slots 26 spaced to receive strap loops 23 when inner ap 22 is folded within outer ap 21 as shown in Figures 2 and 3. For greater strength the padded material is sewn to the backing material along the edge of each of the slots. Wrist straps 16 comprise a strap portion 27 extending in the direction of inner ap 22, preferably sewn between the backing material and the canvas sheet as shown in Figures 3.and 5; and, a buckle portion 28 sewn in position 0n sheet 20 to receive the end of strap portion 27 as it is passed around the wrist pad in closed position.

With reference now to Figures 2 and 3, it will be seen how the aforementioned elements cooperate to secure the patients wrist within the wrist pad. In order to fasten a patients wrist within the wrist pad, the wrist is laid transversely on the wrist pad at the point between the inner and outer flaps. Inner flap 22 is then folded over the wrist and outer flap 21 is folded over inner ap 22 and pulled up tightly; whereupon, strap loops 23, which are now on top of the pad, are passed upward through the slots 26 corresponding to the strap loops at this point. Strap portion 27 is then passed through the strap loops between bushings 25 and outer flap 21 and secured to buckle portion 28. The inner and outer flaps of the wrist pads are now securely locked together and the patients Wrist is tightly held within the pad in closed position. Also, the soft padded or quilted material lies next to the patients skin. By providing a number of slots in outer flap 21, which is usually longer than inner ap 22, a wide range of adjustment in the wrist pad to suit wrists of different size is possible.

Figure 4 shows one manner in which bed frame straps 15, which are sewn to canvas sheet 20, may be secured to the tubular side frame members of the bed. Strap portion 29 of the bed frame strap is looped underneath the tubular frame member and secured tightly within buckle otion 30 to draw the sheet taught over the patients In Figure 6, a preferred method of fastening the restraining sheet to the bed is illustrated in which strap portion 29 is passed inside mattress and spring support frame 31 before being secured within the buckle portion 30 instead of passing it around the tubular side frame member alone. This prevents the patient from moving the restraining sheet longitudinally along the side frame members which usually have no transverse portions between the ends. The mattress and spring support frame, however, or the spring itself, have transverse members which will prevent the straps being moved longitudinally more than a very few inches.

The covers 32 are placed over the patient after the restraining sheet is in place.

Having thus described the construction and use of the present invention, it will be seen that the many advantageous results and objectives have been achieved, and therefore, I claim:

1. A restraining sheet for use in keeping a patient in bed comprising, a substantially rectangular sheet of strong fabric having a plurality of bed frame straps provided with buckles adjacent the side edges forming means by which said sheet may be strapped to the bed in position to cover the body of the patient, means attached to the sheet for holding the wrists of the patient comprising an elongate wrist pad and a wrist strap for each wrist, said wrist pad being formed with the side adjacent the skin of soft material and which is attached to the sheet at a point between its ends to form anouter and inner ap to encircle the wrist of the patient, said outer ap having a plurality of spaced transverse slots and said inner ap having two substantially rectangular strap loops attached thereto spaced approximately the same distance apart as adjacent slots in the outer ap, whereby, said inner and outer aps may be adjusted to different sized wrlsts by passing the strap loops on the inner ap up through corresponding adjacent slots in the outer flap and locked together by inserting the free end of the wrist strap through the portion of the strap loops extending through the slots.

2. A restraining device for use in keeping a patient in bed comprising, a sheet of strong fabric adapted to cover the patient, said sheet having at least one bed frame strap attached thereto adjacent each side edge forming means for fastening the sheet to the bed in patient covering position, means attached to the upper surface of the sheet for holding the wrists of the patient comprising, wrist pads and wrist straps said Wrist pads being foldable about the wrists of the patient and held in place by the wrist straps, each wrist pad being attached to the sheet at a point between its ends, forming flaps to encircle the wrists of the patient, means on said aps for adjusting the wrist pads to tit different sized wrists and locking the pads thereon comprising, a plurality of spaced transverse slots in one of said liaps adapted to receive strap loops attached to the other flap when said fiaps are tted to the wrists and which may be locked together by passing the free end of the wrist strap through a portion of the strap loop eX- tending through the slotted ap.

References Cited in the file of this'patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

